Violets of New River

I would venture to guess that violets are one of the more recognizable flowers in the world. I bet everyone reading this blog, if presented with an image of a flower of the genus Viola, would say, "That's a violet." In addition to a staggering number of wild species, there are many cultivated species, too, and avid gardeners may be familiar with a number of them (those cute little Johnny Jump Ups and basket upon basket of pansies at the garden center come quickly to my mind). While we might easily recognize them as a genus, being able to identify individual species takes a little more work - work to which I have not yet committed myself. However, with the help of field guides, the internet, and knowledgeable friends, I was able to identify and take photos of 5 different species of violets during my trip to the New River Birding and Nature Festival. I'm sure there were many more species that I walked right past without even noticing, but we'll blame that on the fact that I was watching birds!

Canadian Violet, Viola canadensis
There is no doubt that this is a very bold, showy violet. I was surprised to learn its identity, actually - I was expecting it to be something more exotic. I'm sure I have encountered it at some point in my life, but I was very much impressed when I saw several clumps of this species one day.

The Canada Violet is large, both in stature and the size of its bloom. The back of the flower's petals have a purplish hue to them. Go check out Dawn's blog for a photo of the flower from the back. Heck, just check out her blog for the heck of it. She's done a lot of serious birding over the last month that you might want to read about.

Marsh Blue Violet, Viola cucullata
I'm not keeping a list, but if I were, this would be a "life" flower for me, for sure.

The Marsh Blue Violet was sighted during our trip to Cranberry Glades. I plan to tell you all about the very special day we had there in my next post.

Halberd-leaved Violet, Viola hastata
Yet another life flower for me. A halberd is "a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 14th and 15th centuries" (thanks, Wikipedia), and the flower is so named due to the supposed resemblance of the its leaves to the weapon. Another common name for it is Spear-leaved Violet

Unfortunately the flowers were just past their prime, so they weren't quite as showy as they probably had been just a few days prior.

Long-spurred Violet, Viola rostrata
Yet another species that was beyond its peak bloom and had begun to fade. I'm sad that I wasn't able to actually capture the spur coming off the back of the flower that gives it its name, but I wanted to share the few images I did get because I still think it's purdy.

You'll notice some very bold lines in the middle of the flower. Those are called nectar guides, and they are the equivalent of an airport runway all lit up, telling bugs and other pollinators where to go to get to the nectar that is housed within. Many flowers have nectar guides, not just violets.

Sweet White Violet, Viola blanda
This is my last specimen. Sweet White's are tiny, and would be dwarfed by the Canada Violet that headlined this post. I heard about another similar violet that was growing on the grounds of Opossum Creek Retreat called Macloskey's Violet, or Northern White Violet (Viola macloskeyi), but my sources tell me that Macloskey's Violet has a green stem, whereas the Sweet White has the pinkish stem that you see here.

As with the Long-spurred Violet pictured earlier, you will notice an ant up inside the flower, assisting with pollination duties. Makes me wonder if ants are a common, perhaps major, pollinator of violets?

In search of the ephemeral

Crocus flowers in bloom
Spring is a season for celebration. It is a time of bursting forth after a long season of gray dormancy. Such bursting forth is noticeable in eye-catching flowers like crocuses, daffodils, tulips, and hyacinth. Also there are trees that catch our eye with their beautiful blooms and blossoms, like magnolia, cherry and redbud. We can also hear spring coming alive, as the peepers and toads sing their songs of love, birds serenade us, and maybe we'll even hear a group of bees as they work on pollinating a blooming fruit tree. Birds can be seen carrying nesting material. Gardens start getting cleaned up and lawnmowers start roaring.

All of these, such obvious signs of spring.

There are, however, flowers out there that are not so easy to spot; flowers that, although small and fleeting, are very much an important part of the early spring landscape. These are the spring ephemerals. Their bloom time is short, sometimes lasting only a few days, if that. They take advantage of the fact that the trees are not yet in bloom and soak up all energy of the sun that a still-open forest canopy offers. And finding them requires some effort. You will likely have to get your knees dirty if you want to really see them, as seeing them from a standing position often does not afford you the best view of their true beauty.

Going on expeditions with those who know where to look helps, too!

Leavenworthia uniflora - Michaux's Gladcress. Had the morning been sunny, the flowers themselves would have been showier, but we made do with seeing any portion of these Ohio rarities at all. At right is the basal rosette that we began to see everywhere once we found the first flower or two.

The very unique leaf of the Virginia Waterleaf plant.

Common Wood Rush

White Trillium flower, ready to bloom

Spicebush blooms

Field Pansy in a sea of Dead Nettle

Mouse-tail (Myosurus minimus) - an Ohio rarity
Driving around rural Adams County, our caravan stopped here and there, pulling off the road to poke around in a field, a nature preserve, a cemetery, and a seemingly nondescript patch of land that's actually a lovely little cedar prairie. Someone would shout out, "What are we looking for?" "Something that looks different!" would be the reply. Eventually, a sharp eye would latch on to the object of our searching. And then, on hands and knees, we would each get down and look at the specimen, often not much more than an inch tall. We would look around, trying to find yet a better, more beautiful, more fully bloomed specimen.

Little Whitlow-grass, in fruit (Draba brachycarpa) - another Ohio rarity. This is a flower that grows best in dry, sandy soils, and benefits from regular disturbance. This was one of our cemetery finds.

Pennywort (Obolaria virginica)

White Trout Lily and Yellow Forest Violet. The forest floor was literally covered with Trout Lilies in flower and in fruit.

Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla)
Now here I am, several weeks after our excursion into small and rare mustards (officially known as The Annual Adams County Ohio Lilliputian Mustard Expedition and extensively written about at Ohio Birds and Biodiversity, Weedpicker's Journal, Red and the Peanut, Nature Remains, and Indy Parks Nature Blog), internalizing some new botanical vocabulary, and making sure to pay better attention to even the tiniest of flowers on my own property. The season of ephemerals has just about passed, but I will keep a better eye out in years to come.

Getting my nose to the ground

This post finds me tired from a full day in the field, but the pressure is on after spending the day with a group of fellow nature enthusiasts and flower lovers, several of whom are bloggers themselves - who will be the first to post? Some photos have already made their way to Facebook thanks to others in the group, and I'm too wiped out to do a full-blown post myself, but here are some highlights from a wonderful day spent wildflower hunting in Adams County, OH.


Old barns abound in rural southern Ohio, this one made all the more picturesque when framed by a field brimming with Purple Dead Nettle.

Even though I was only about 2 hours WSW of Athens County, some flowers are much farther along in Adams Co. then they are in Athens Co. For example, in Adams County, some of the Bloodroot has already gone to fruit (it's just started to bloom here in Athens County)!

Our trip today was not only a feast for the eyes, but for the nose as well, as one location was full of Wild Leeks (AKA Ramps - or, if you want to say it with the proper accent, "rAImps")

Our group clogged the back roads of Adams County. I'm sure all who drove by wondered what kinds of cool things we were up to!

I always like to get shots of the folks I'm with on these trips, showing how immersed we get with our subjects. You know it's serious business when the paparazzi come out!

While we saw many neat flowers today, a number of which were life plants for me, this was by far my favorite, simply due to its bizarre nature. Tricia West and I spotted this at just about the same time. It looks like a Rue Anemone as far as I can tell, but it looks like a double-flowered form. Pretty cool!
More to follow soon!

Demunitive, Dainty and Demure

This past weekend I was still a bit under the weather, but I managed to spend plenty of time in early morning photographing flowers. I came across some great finds, some of which were tiny and required a sharp eye to catch. Here are a few of them...

This is called Large Twayblade. It's a member of the orchid family. I'm not terribly familiar with orchids, but when I saw the flowers, I thought they were reminiscent of orchids, so I was glad to see my hunch was right.

As you can see, this is not exactly a stand-out flower. No eye-popping color. Very low to the ground, mixing right in with the grass growing around it. I consider it a lucky sighting!

The flowers are very different-looking. They have kind of a waxy look to them, and you can see they are also a little translucent. They remind me of the webbed foot of a duck. The flowers themselves are probably only about 1" long.

I spent a long time with this flower, photographing it from many different angles, trying to capture its essence and beauty. However, I don't think you want to see 4o more pictures of it!

Another close-to-the ground flower, this is Common Speedwell. This is even more dainty than the Twayblade, with the flowers being only about 1/4".

It reminds me of Ground Ivy in its habit. My specimens seem to only be about 4 or 5" tall, but apparently they can get as tall as 18" (soil quality is a determining factor... I'd say clay and silt aren't conducive to tall growth).

What it lacks in size it makes up for in quantity. We have quite a few sizable patches of it growing in the more "waste areas" of the property (i.e. around the driveway).

Quite lovely, don't you think?

This is a flower I'm still trying to get an ID on. Also very tiny flowers, maybe 1/2". Possibly 5 or 6" tall.

Whatever it is, it's cute. If anyone has any ideas as to what this is, please chime in! So far this year I've been pretty lucky identifying wildflowers that are new to me, but this one has me stumped for now.